Two paintings by Justin Hawkes. Landscape? Or abstract art?

Two paintings by Justin Hawkes.  Seen at the Williams Art Gallery, Cambridge on 25 Nov. 2012.

1.  Landscape Tension

Justin Hawkes, Landscape Tension (red glow), acrylic (behind glass), 40 x 68 cm.

Landscape Tension is aptly named:  there is a tension here between abstraction and the illusion of a 'real' landscape.

On the one hand, we see a landscape.  The horizontal format encourages us to see one.  (Not for nothing is this format known as 'landscape format' by computer printers.)  We read the dark scribbly line in the bottom quarter as the horizon.  With bushes and trees (and perhaps the spires of buildings?).

Above the horizon is the deep orange glow of a sunset.  (Or sunrise?)  And above that is the strangely opaque sky.

Justin Hawkes, Landscape Tension (detail)

On the other hand, however, we see five rectangles, stacked one above the other.  The top rectangle is a matt teal; the two below are a dirty dark orange and a jewel orange; there follow a dark brown and a dark brownish-blue one.

Between the dark brown and the jewel orange rectangles (or broad stripes), there is an uneven line that blurs the boundary between brown and orange.

There is no depth here, just flat rectangles of colour.

Landscape or abstract shapes?  Duck or rabbit? 

The point is:  every painting is both at once.  At once an illusion of three-dimensional space.  And a reality of colour shapes on a flat canvas.

2.  Montage

Justin Hawkes, Montage watercolour composition, 14 x 8 cm.

Montage.  A tiny watercolour.

A vertical format.  Also known as 'portrait format' but we don't see a format.  We see a landscape.  Or what we think may be a landscape.

It's also two rectangular pieces of drawing paper, stained with orange-brownish watercolour.  The pieces of paper are separated by a torn edge and pasted onto a mount.

Justin Hawkes, Montage (detail)

The white uneven line is reminiscent of the horizon in Landscape Tension.  But here it is not only an illusion of a boundary: it is a real boundary.  A real bit of torn paper.  The white colour is the colour of the paper mount underneath.

The motif of torn paper reappears in the artist's sketchbooks.

Justin Hawkes, page from sketchbook 

Williams Art Gallery

I saw these paintings last November.  (I know... it's taken me ages finally to get this post together!)  They were part of an exhibition by the painter Justin Hawkes at the Williams Art Gallery on Gwydir Street.

Williams Art Gallery on Gwydir Stree with Justin Hawkes exhibition, seen from Hot Numbers Café

Meet the artist

I was also lucky:  I met the artist and asked him some questions.

•  I asked Justin Hawkes what got him started as an artist.  He said that he was inspired by Cézanne when he was around 15 years old.

  

•  And what did he think were the differences in painting in acrylics and in watercolours?

Justin Hawkes told me that the challenges of the big acrylic canvases lies in resisting the masculinity of the kind of colour-field painting produced by Ellsworth Kelly. 

The challenge of the watercolours, by contrast, lies in resisting their prettiness.

Justin Hawkes does not want to fix a moment, like a photographer wants to do, but wants to allow for time.

From Justin Hawkes's artist statement:  

'The relevance of late Mondrian remains important to me.  I work to avoid my paintings becoming a mishmash of styles because as well as responding to this influence I feel a need to develop a direct line to nature.'

'Paintings evolve from a consciousness that is aware of what they are and what they are about -- simultaneously.'

How about you?
What do you see first?  The landscape or the abstract shapes of colour?

Find out more:

Justin Hawkes' website, incl. upcoming and past shows, and an image gallery

Related posts:

Patrick Thurston: exhibition of photographs at the Williams Art Gallery

Alison Litherland: paintings of cows

Paintings © Justin Hawkes.  Images used with permission of the artist.

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Patrick Thurston at Williams Art Gallery

A photography exhibition

I stumbled into Hot Numbers on a misty November morning, in need of a cappuccino and cake, and what did I find?

Patrick Thurston's wonderful photography.



Even better, the photographer himself was there and I had a delightful chat with him about his art.

This was a retrospective of the past 50 years of Patrick's career at the newly refurbished Williams Art Gallery on Gwydir Street.  Amazingly, this was the first time that Patrick has had his photos hung in a gallery.  Where had they been seen before?  Well, in newspapers and colour supplements.  For years, Patrick Thurston took photos for what used to be called the Weekend Telegraph.

Why I took no photos of the photos

Photographers are very concerned about their copyright as their works have not traditionally been protected by the same laws that govern painting or literature.  I'm especially mindful of this issue.  This is why I have no glossy pictures for you today.  Instead I decided to use the tiny pictures in the exhibition leaflet to give you at least an idea.



The pictures below do not reflect the rich textures and sharp lines of the actual photographs. They are but ghostly memories.

I urge you to check out Patrick's webpage for a glimpse of the real thing!!

My three favourites

London Rooftops.


No sky is visible.  The chimneys form an abstract pattern of red and brown.  This photo reminds me of the murals under the Newmarket Street roundabout.

Tramcar, Rome.  1964.


Only the tram is visible, the rest is a blur.  This makes the tram look like a creature, zooming at incredible speed into the unknown.  Very mysterious.

Patrick Thurston Self-portrait.


The combination of self-conscious self-portrait and ornate mirror frames is Baroque and postmodern all at once.  (Well, postmodernity owes a lot to the Baroque period of art...)  The play of shapes and the layers of history are very evocative.  Reflections within reflections.  Also, this is an analogy of mirror and photography.

What I learned

We are all (amateur) photographers these days so what can we learn from a professional?

1)  Close-ups work.  For example, the close-up of a rusty chain link.  Textures and   shapes come to the fore.




2)  Detail not overcrowding.  For example, the tram where everything else is blurred out.  No need to include lots of background 'noise'.

3)  On the hop.  For example, the man patiently sweeping the church.  Animate a scene.

I asked Patrick about digital vs analog photography.  He still has three analog cameras and six lenses:  more gets too heavy to lug about.  The tram was taken with a lightweight Leica in Rome in the 1960s.

This is the classic Leica 1963.  Not sure that this is the exact one Patrick Thurston had but I thought I'd include it here, anyway.  

More

Interview feature in the Cambridge News.

And again, don't forget Patrick Thurston's own webpage!

Our newspapers are full of photographs but people send letters and emails to the editor only about the articles.  Why not comment on a photo?

By the way, Hot Numbers is now a combined café and art gallery -- how cool is that?  (Current exhibition at the gallery:  Justin Hawkes.  I saw it today -- more soon!)

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